Chapter 1 A Certain Place in the Black Hole Edge Star System

Somewhere in the Black Hole Edge Star System, a small fleet was advancing towards the edge of the star field near the Glittering World.

Inside the command room of the leading ship, numerous operators were buried in their work at their stations, occasionally reporting parameters.

"Report, Captain, we have left the territory of the Heter Civilization and entered the low-security zone plagued by star pirates. Alert level has been adjusted to level 7. In approximately fifty-four universal hours, the fleet will arrive at the joint neutral zone and enter the radiation range of the inter-star field stargate."

"Hmm, expand the patrol range of the unmanned reconnaissance drones. The security along the next stretch of road is not good, so be careful."

Gavin sat in the captain's seat, issuing orders.

He was tall and slender, with fair skin and handsome features. He wore a black wide-brimmed hat with a white feather plume on top, and an elegant and well-fitting casual outfit, with his chest open, revealing his smooth, fair skin. A slender sword in a scabbard hung at his waist, engraved with magical patterns, clearly a magic weapon.

"White Wave" Gavin, a registered Super-A Seed, did not belong to any faction and generally wandered freely around the universe.

Such neutral Super-A Seeds had always been important targets for higher civilizations to win over, and Gavin was no exception. The three major civilizations, the Super Star Cluster civilizations, and the major civilizations local to the Black Hole Edge had all extended olive branches to him.

However, Gavin had remained noncommittal, partly because he didn't like working for others and partly to leave room for bargaining.

Originally, the price offered by the three major civilizations had tempted him, and he was hesitant about whether to join. However, the recent Sanctuary Revival event had made Gavin abandon the idea.

Even though the three major civilizations had significantly increased their offers after the incident, times had changed. Gavin was unmoved and suddenly lost interest in the resource support promised by the three major civilizations. He didn't even bother to negotiate further and decided to turn around and join a Super-A-level force, heading straight for the Glittering World with his fleet.

He had even chosen his target. Hei Xing (Black Star) held the Sanctuary Revival in his hands, so if he was going to join anyone, it would be the Black Star Army. If he stepped into the Super-A level in the future, he would be in a prime position to benefit.

Gavin casually swiped through his communicator, browsing recent news events on the local network channel. He quickly saw a headline that read, "The Three Major Civilizations Claim to Have Known About the Sanctuary Revival Phenomenon for a Long Time and Have Been Secretly Researching It, Recently Achieving Preliminary Results." He couldn't help but curl his lip, his expression dismissive.

"Tsk, the three major civilizations are even starting to spread fake news to appease the people..."

Similar news had been circulating from time to time recently because the impact of the Sanctuary Revival on the outside world had caused a chain reaction in many social strata, even shaking some direct descendants of higher civilizations. In Gavin's view, the three major civilizations were deliberately releasing ambiguous rumors to reassure the public, making outsiders believe that the three major civilizations would also be able to master this Sanctuary Revival in the future.

Although these rumors were unfounded and untenable, they were not entirely without effect. A considerable number of citizens in the interstellar society had a simple and crude logic, that is, their long-standing inertia made them believe that the three major civilizations were the most advanced in any field. Even if the Sanctuary Revival was an unprecedented new technology, they believed that the three major civilizations had known about it for a long time, but had kept it secret.

However, most of the people who believed these rumors were relatively low-level interstellar citizens. Gavin naturally did not believe them.

"The three major civilizations are feeling the pressure. This is not a bad thing. Competition between major camps will make us more valued. In order to win us over, they have to offer better benefits... If the three major civilizations hadn't felt the pressure of competition, they wouldn't have suddenly increased the stakes to win me over."

Gavin scratched his chin, muttering to himself.

After opening the news and reading it for a while, Gavin found that the comment section seemed a little off. It was filled with a large number of sarcastic and abusive comments targeting superhumans. Some people satirized the privileges of superhumans in a mocking tone, while others shared cases of superhumans oppressing ordinary people in a fit of anger. These comments actually received a large number of likes from passersby.

Gavin browsed through them carefully and shook his head helplessly.

Most ordinary people both envied and feared, and were also jealous and resentful of the strength, status, and privileges of superhumans. Superhumans were one of the most active classes in the universe, but they only accounted for a very small percentage of the total population. Ordinary people were the mainstream, and the conflict between the two had been accumulating for a long time.

Most people were destined at birth not to have the potential to become superhumans, and were destined to be mediocre for life. The more they envied superhumans, the more they resented themselves for not having such a fate, resented the injustice of fate, and thus hated the house and its crow, transferring their hatred to superhumans. Reason was difficult to tame people's hearts, and the idea of not worrying about scarcity but worrying about inequality always had a place, forming a stubborn social contradiction between the two classes.

On a cosmic scale, the problem between superhumans and ordinary people was not just a class issue, or even the same kind of "creature." Superhumans represented the direction of life evolution, while ordinary people represented backward, low-level life. Even if the interstellar society did not advocate this kind of thinking, many people believed that this was the truth.

Ordinary people, who made up the majority of the population, were unwilling to accept their innate position as "eliminated in the evolutionary process," which was destined for conflict.

In life, most interstellar citizens did not dare to act presumptuously in front of superhumans, but on the quantum network, they did not need to worry about anything, and launched heavy punches to vent their emotions. The existence of the Sanctuary Revival seemed to have become an opportunity to re-ignite the accumulated resentment of the classes. Many ordinary people became more and more resentful, cursing injustice.

In group thoughts with venting properties, emotions were often higher than reason. Even if many people knew that the strength of superhumans came from hard training, it was meaningless. Either all the superhumans in the universe died, or they all became superhumans, otherwise they would still curse.

Gavin was not surprised by this, but he felt that the outbreak of class conflict this time seemed a bit fierce. He didn't believe that there were no behind-the-scenes masterminds.

"Clouds continue to accumulate, and the rain will come as scheduled. I always feel that the future of interstellar society is not good..."

Gavin couldn't help shaking his head.

*Dong!*

At this moment, the spaceship suddenly shook, and the radar began to buzz.

"Alarm! Alarm! Spatial interference devices detected nearby. Warp flight mode has been exited. Unknown ships are detected approaching rapidly!"

Gavin was slightly startled and quickly zoomed in on the view. He soon saw a small fleet surrounding them. It was a star pirate group active in this area, and the leader seemed to be a Calamity grade.

The next moment, the star pirate group's shout rang out on the wide-area channel.

"Stop the ship immediately, open the docking channel, and let our personnel board. Otherwise, we will open fire!"

"So, they're highway robbers..."

Gavin breathed a sigh of relief, his face turning cold.

"Captain, what do we do?" the pilot next to him asked. Because he believed in Gavin's strength, he was not nervous at all.

"Hmph, let them board. If they want to die, let them come. I'll take care of them."

Gavin's eyes flickered.

Soon, the fleet stopped in place according to his instructions. The star pirate group saw this and quickly approached, and the two sides docked.

The hatch opened with a whoosh, and a group of star pirates stepped onto Gavin's spaceship with unrestrained steps, holding guns. Everyone on the ship was waiting in front of the passage.

"Where is the captain? Come out and see me!" The star pirate leader looked around the crowd.

Just then, a violent shout rang out from the crowd.

"You've messed with the wrong person!"

Gavin, who had hidden his aura and was hiding in the crowd, suddenly launched an attack, suddenly drawing out his slender sword and slashing out a training-like streamer, a sharp chill flashing out.

The star pirate leader was shocked and quickly raised his arm, his martial arts aura wrapped around it, turning into solid armor, trying to block the surprise attack.

*Shua!*

The next second, a flash of blood appeared, and the star pirate leader cried out in pain. The blade cut through his protective aura and deeply embedded itself in his blocking arm.

Gavin held the sword with both hands, his footsteps spinning, and a wave-like white sword light suddenly lit up, flashing past in an instant, leaving a stunning afterimage on everyone's retinas.

*Shua!* One of the star pirate leader's arms was cut off and fell to the ground, the cut smooth. The blood seemed to have not kept up with the speed of the sword light, and it took a full second to solidify before spurting out, staining the spaceship corridor red.

Both were Calamity grades, but Gavin's level was far higher than the other. With one strike, he crippled his opponent. As a martial artist of the Battle Soldier branch, Gavin's lethality was extremely strong, and he had already reached the level of a grandmaster in swordsmanship.

But at this moment, an accident occurred!

In the star pirate team, seven or eight people suddenly burst out with the aura of a Calamity grade, and at the same time launched a sneak attack on Gavin, like hunters who had been hiding for a long time, suddenly exuding a murderous aura!

"What!" Gavin's pupils shrank, his eyes changing dramatically in horror.

These people were definitely not members of the star pirate group. If this star pirate group had so many experts, they would have been famous long ago, and he would have been prepared.

Being so close, he didn't even notice the aura hidden by these people. These attackers must be extraordinary!

Gavin didn't have time to think about the origins of these people, and quickly dodged and blocked. However, the sneak attack was too sudden, and he didn't block many attacks, bearing most of the heavy blows. Suddenly, blood spurted out. Martial artists of the Battle Soldier branch were not known for their defensive power, and he suffered a lot of injuries all at once.

"Not ordinary Calamity grades, they are all experts!"

Gavin was shocked in his heart. While vomiting blood, he used the reaction force to shoot out, slashing out a wide half-moon-shaped slash wave, shattering the spaceship's bulkhead and escaping into the universe, heading straight for another spaceship.

At this time, seven or eight Calamity grades immediately chased after him, surrounding and intercepting him, cooperating tacitly, while entangling Gavin, while smashing all the spaceships, not leaving any vehicle for the other party to escape.

Seeing that his escape routes were cut off one by one, Gavin's eyes were about to split, and he had no choice but to desperately resist, the sword light going back and forth, fighting with this group of people, and soon became surrounded by dangers.

Even if he was a Super-A Seed, he couldn't stand the siege of seven or eight Calamity grades. Not everyone had Hei Xing's terrifying ability to withstand blows back then.

"You are not star pirates, who are you?!"

Gavin shouted loudly in the wide-area channel. Through aura locking, he had vaguely felt the resolute killing intent of these Calamity grades towards him, as if they had come for him from the beginning.

Could it be that this star pirate group and this group of people were deliberately hiding here to plot against me?

But his question was destined to go unanswered. These Calamity grades remained silent, only attacking harder and harder, wantonly releasing their cold killing intent.

Seeing this, Gavin gritted his teeth, unwilling to sit still and wait for death. While calling for help on the wide-area channel, he tried his best to break through. Even if he knew that his chances of survival today were extremely slim, he could not give up.

Several figures fought endlessly, and energy aftermath shot out in all directions. The battlefield continued to move in the fierce battle.

The wounds on Gavin's body became more and more numerous, and his whole body turned into a blood man. He didn't know how long he fought, and he gradually ran out of energy, and his consciousness began to gradually blur.

"I finally have my current strength, and there is hope to set foot in the Super-A level domain, with a promising future, am I going to die here today for no reason..."

Gavin supported his spirit, and strong unwilling emotions surged in his mind.

But at this moment, the attacks of the crowd suddenly paused for a moment, and they looked up at the universe not far away, and saw a shuttle-shaped spaceship appearing in sight, approaching this place, as if it had discovered the abnormal energy reaction here, and came to check it out.

"There is a witness, what should we do?"

"Ignore him, kill the target first, and make a quick decision."

Several people quickly exchanged a few words, and the next moment, the intensity of the attack soared again, abandoning all defense, and all changed to a style of play that exchanged injuries for injuries.

This became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Gavin's seriously injured body could not withstand the surge of attacks, and was bombarded by a flurry of attacks. His whole body was shattered inch by inch, and his life breath quickly left this body.

A Calamity grade was about to inflict the final fatal blow, but at this moment, another change occurred!

*Om!*

A holy golden light suddenly shot out from the rapidly approaching shuttle-shaped spaceship, shining on Gavin's tattered body.

The next moment, as if a miracle had happened, Gavin's body instantly returned to a perfect and undamaged state, all the injuries disappeared without a trace, and he opened his eyes, seemingly not yet recovered.

"This is..."

Several Calamity grades suddenly shrank their pupils, and suddenly looked at the spaceship where the light was coming from.

At the same time, inside the shuttle-shaped spaceship, Aurora retracted her hand, her eyes flashing with excitement and curiosity.

"It's really fun to go out with you, you can always encounter strange things."

Hearing this, Fording next to him shook his head helplessly.

If he hadn't been pulled in as a conscript, he wouldn't want to travel around with Aurora, calling it a "bodyguard," but in reality, wasn't it just to蹭 (cèng - to freeload) his luck, treating him as an event trigger to make the journey more tortuous and fun?